Getting the money to pay for the boat was pretty easy. The problem was convincing Simel that I wasn’t going to kill, rob or loot anyone to get the money.

But I was able to cook up a pretty good half-truth. Basically, I told him that I’d been able to get one of the city’s rich judges to pay to have me analysed by one of his court mages. This was not a lie. I did, in fact, turn up at the house of one of the city’s four high judges and tell him I was a human and that I was willing to give myself up for divine analysis. Furthermore, he had actually accepted it! I really hadn’t expected that one, but sometimes life does have its perks. What I didn’t tell Simel was that I then pocketed a few of the judge’s items and sold it to this one guy I found in a back alley at one point. If you’re wondering why I didn’t kill the judge, it’s because—duh. It’s a judge. I kill one of those and the whole city’s guards will be after my ass like I’m a Playstation on black Friday.

Anyway, but then that guy refused to give me all the money I needed, so I killed him and took his organs to this other guy I met in a different back alley who made a living selling the things to reputable healers and temples, but then he wouldn’t give me enough money either, so I got the names of some of his clients, blackmailed one of the richer ones, and just like that I had enough money to buy a boat seat. Yippie!

But explaining all of that to Simel felt like a bit much, so I kept it brief.

With the money in hand, I paid that damn sailor, but not before taking a deep whiff of his smell. And for the past close to two weeks, that smell is all I’ve focused on. I have been able to tell every single movement he’s made. Where he lives. Where he works. The people he talks to. His family. His child.

I almost considered giving him a note saying if the ship didn’t set out I’d eat his family but as it turned out, I didn’t need to! The ship was all ready to set out when Simel and I arrived, meaning that I would not have reason to do good on the aforementioned threat. Darn it.

Still, we boarded the boat, finding it occupied by maybe a dozen other passengers, each more odd than the last. A collection of oddballs, to say the least.

There was a farmer and his family; a judge and her handmaiden; a vagabond; a pair of siblings who must have each been ten years old at most; an apprentice sailor; and a lone mother with her baby. And then, there was me and Simel. I honestly don’t know what we could be called, except for maybe a pair of travellers. Our duo could closest be compared to the vagabond, I guess.

Before we set out, the old sailor—the captain, gathered us all to explain how this was going to go.

Firstly, the trip would take a month or two or however long the God of Seas deemed it proper to take. Secondly, we were not passengers; we were cargo. If we did not like the treatment received, we would be tossed overboard like cargo. Thirdly, we would receive three meals a day, at nine, one and seven respectively. If we did not show up at these times, we would not eat.

Tyrannical? Yes. Our only choice? No, but that’s not what Simel thinks.

Regardless, all I care about is making it to the empire without Simel dying. A captain being all high on his rulership doesn’t really matter to me, no pun intended. The judge wasn’t too happy about the rough treatment, but since this is the best option, she had no choice but to shut up. It was actually kind of satisfying to watch, but anyhow.

The captain ordered his few shipmates around, and after a few hours, the ship set out fully. Once the ship had left the pier, I took five steps to the railing and promptly puked my guts out into the ocean.

…Hm.

Oh, Simel’s next to me. Hey, Simel. What’s with that expression? I can’t tell if it’s pity or if he’s gloating. Or maybe it’s some other emotion entirely. “I just…” I burp. Tastes like blood. Not mine, of course. “—This is my first time on a boat.”

He quirks an eyebrow.

“It’s true!” I squawk. “Sure, I know, if I lived as close to the sea as I did I should have been way more used to being on a boat than most normies. I just… I never really did anything like that. It just didn’t happen, okay?” I feel my stomach clench and I lean over again, emptying out a bit of bile I didn’t know I had left. “Eurghh…”

“Everything alright, sir?” someone asks. I glance over. Oh, hey, it’s the sailor-in-training. “Are you seasick?”

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“Yeah, don’t worry, I just…” I feel something rise again but I swallow it down. As long as I don’t think about the gentle bobbing of the boat, the lurching of the waves, the rocking of the hull, I should be fine. I should be… “Urghh—!”

“Easy, there!” the young sailor says, patting me on the back. The touch makes me jolt a little but I stop myself before I do anything bad. He smiles at me, all innocent. He’s got dimples. His mane is carefully braided, much like most sailors. Everything about his face feels simple and easy. “Here, how about you sit down, sir? My father always told me to sit in the shade and breathe a bit was best for sea sickness. And if you permit me, sir, I could surely fetch you some tripseeds for you to chew on. It does wonders, that I can swear.”

I furrow my brow at him. “...Sure,” I say. “Go ahead.”

Simel looks like he has a lot on his mind, but the sailor boy appears completely oblivious to it, simply bringing me over to sit on an out-of-the-way bench on deck. Once I’m sat, he leaves, returning after a few minutes with a handful of little orange berries. “Here, sir,” he says, nudging them into my hand. “Simply chew on one of these and you’ll soon feel the nausea melt away.”

I thumb the little berries in my hand. They’re about as large as kernels of black pepper, and as hard as one, too. Well, it can’t hurt more than anything else I’ve experienced, can it? Shrugging, I pop one in my mouth and start chewing. It isn’t especially sweet, and it has a slightly bitter aftertaste, but it does feel like my nausea is getting a little better. Interesting.

“You are aware that it is all hogwash, are you not?”

I look up to find the judge looking down her nose at me and the sailor boy.

“I had my mage analyse them, and there is nothing in their properties to suggest any such abilities. It is merely superstitious nonsense,” she says with a scoff, clearly taking her trip entertainment in watching the sailor boy squirm. “Didn’t your father tell you that, boy?”

The sailor boy makes to speak but I’m a bit faster. “Okay listen yeah but you can’t underestimate the power of the placebo effect, which you clearly haven’t heard of or you would’ve let me keep chewing this thing ‘cause I actually read a study about how at times the placebo effect could be just as strong as the real thing so even if it is just superstition or whatever it is still helpful in this moment also just so you know it’s still effective even if you know that it’s a placebo. Yeah.”

She stares at me.

The sailor boy stares at me.

Simel sighs and looks away.

“Do—do you happen to be a learned man, sir?” the sailor boy asks. I don’t have the heart to tell him that I’m probably younger than him.

The judge shakes her head. “If you would rather believe in superstition than fact, then you are clearly not a man of the gods.” And with those devastating words, she leaves.

I keep chewing the seed, and then I swallow it.

The sailor boy slowly composes himself. “Well, there are all types of people, aren’t there, sir?” As he watches her leave, his eyes suddenly widen, as though remembering something. “Oh! Forgive me, I almost forgot, but once you’ve finished chewing it, please spit it out, since the skin may cause the nausea to—” While he’s speaking, I carefully stand up, move to the railing and empty the last of my stomach’s contents into the sea. “...Worsen.”

“I’m alright,” I mumble. “I’m fine. I just need to…” I puke again. I think this is my blood. Not sure. “Okay, yeah, I think I feel better now.”

The sailor boy seems beyond worried. “Well, erm…” He holds out his hand. “If it isn’t too much of a bother, would you mind if I introduced myself?” I look down at his hand and up at his face.

I wipe the sick from my lips and the lips I’m wearing. “Ho-Jae,” I say. “Lee Ho-Jae.”

“Lie hoh…?”

“That’s my name—Ho-Jae.”

He blinks at me. “Oh! Sorry, I just… I was worried for a second that you were about to vomit again. Erm…” He returns his hand to his side. “It is a pleasure, Sir Ho-Jae. I am Vann, son of Pettere”

I wave my hand. “No need for all the Sir stuff. We’re like the same age, dude.”

“You are?” He looks me up and down. “Pardon me, si—erm… Lee, but you don’t… I mean…”

Oh, wait, yeah, I’m wearing the skin of an adult. “Yeah, I’ve got this, uh, like… Skin disease or whatever. People tell me I look like a fifty-year-old all the time, but I’m really only…” Squashing my eyebrows together, I count my fingers real quick, “—Eighteen! I’m eighteen. Still eighteen.”

He seems thoughtful for a moment, eyes falling to the deck below us. “...You’re younger than me?”

I purse my lips. “Um. Yup.”

By the look in his eye, it would be fair to suppose his world has just been shattered. Interesting to see.

After a minute or so, he finally composes himself enough to give a polite smile. “Well, Lee, it is still good to make your acquaintance, and I hope our ride will go well.”

Surprisingly enough, just like Vann hoped, the rest of the boat ride actually went pretty well. I had sort of expected to have to fight sea monsters at some point, or at least a few pirates, but none of that happened. It was sort of, well… quaint. It feels ridiculous when I say it like this, but that’s what it was. The sky was usually blue, the wind was mostly on our back, and weirdly enough, I had company. I talked to Vann a lot, also making acquaintances with the other passengers. They were an interesting bunch, and once I got to know them properly, I found myself genuinely enjoying their company. Even stranger, they didn’t seem all that opposed to speaking with me, either.

They would ask me about my and Simel’s travels, and I would—simply enough—tell them. There was nothing inherently wrong with our travels. I could tell them the cities we’d visited without much fear.

After a little over a month, we arrived at the city of Yattisbay. I took farewell to Venn and the others, and just like that, we were almost there. The empire was less than a month’s travel away. For some reason, that thought gave me a strange sense of melancholy, knowing that once I brought Simel there and did the right thing, the floor would close, and I wouldn’t get to meet him again until I reached purgatory. Some little devil deep inside whispered that it didn’t need to end, that we could keep travelling. I just had to mislead us a little.

…But I couldn’t. Simel trusted me to guide us right, and I couldn’t betray that. Not my friend. Not like that.

So, we continued. Of course, before we left fully, I made sure to sneak away in the night to get a bit of well-earned revenge on the captain. I had grown to miss the taste of goblin just a bit too much. Nevertheless, with that, my business with all of the ship and all that was concluded.

The empire was at hand.